Graduate Student Highlight: Professional M.A. Class of 2024

This past spring, five of our Professional M.A. students celebrated the completion of their degrees. Throughout their time in the SJMC, the graduates, Kelly Holm, Courtney Bingham, Omar Taimoore Waheed, Noreen Sharif, and Katrina Williams, enhanced their skills in a variety of journalistic and strategic communication areas. The group refined their expertise in print, broadcast and digital journalism to prepare themselves for the challenges of the professional world.

Take a look at the five graduates of the ProTrack program, their lessons learned and their plans for the future.

Kelly Holm

Area of Focus: Features and arts and culture writing, with interests including true crime, extremism and disinformation

Background: After receiving a degree in English/creative writing from Hamline University, Holm worked as a reporter for the Lakeland Times in Minocqua, WI. Holm then decided to continue her educational journey in the field of journalism at the SJMC because “Madison had always been a favorite city so it felt natural that I’d come here.”

Portfolio Highlights:

Stories Published in Madison Commons

Holm has written a variety of stories for Madison Commons where she has explored topics including how the Canadian wildfires influenced a local art scene, the attempts to preserve and protect the Ho-Chunk language , and the new addition of American Sign Language to the UW–Madison language department.

Story Published in Madison Magazine

For a Madison Magazine article, Holm examined how artificial intelligence (AI) is impacting the world of art and creativity. She explores the new ethical uncertainties that are and will arise with the heightened use and accessibility of AI.

Story Published in Osceola Sun

For the Osceola Sun, Holm researched the local issue of how the expiration of a COVID relief program for childcare providers would impact the only out-of-home daycare in Osceola, Wisconsin. Holm goes further to explain the financial and staffing issues present in rural Wisconsin child care centers.

Lessons Learned: Holm learned many lessons throughout her time at the SJMC including the importance of localizing national stories, and the meaningfulness that comes from culturally contextualizing events, and the idea that publication opportunities can come from anywhere.

Courtney Bingham

Area of Focus : Broadcast Journalism

Background: In 2019 Bingham received a B.A. in critical identity studies with a minor in journalism from Beloit College. Bingham then became a graduate admissions coordinator for the UW–Madison School of Social Work in August 2019 and continued in his role until March 2024.

Portfolio Highlights:

Pat Hastings’ J475 Class

For Pat Hastings’ J475 course, Bingham produced a broadcast piece highlighting two individuals: a local Black barber and a local Loctitician . Bingham wanted to showcase the importance of their work as Black hair stylists in a predominantly white city like Madison.

JuJu’s Annual Block Party

Bingham produced a story during his internship with Channel 3000 about JuJu’s Third Annual Block Party in the Southside of Madison. The party brings Madison locals of all ages together to celebrate with a variety of activities, food, music, and community engagement. During his work on this piece, Bingham learned to adjust to bright lighting and other obstacles that sometimes cannot be avoided.

TruStage Workers March and Rally

Another piece Bingham created during his Channel 3000 internship was in regards to a TruStage Workers March and Rally that occurred on the 485th day of the employees having no contract. The demonstration was held by employees fighting for job security, compensation, fair benefits, and diversity and inclusion. For this piece Bingham wanted to place his focus on making his web story far more in depth than his typical voice overs.

Future Plans: Bingham plans to apply for Multimedia Journalist positions.

Omar Taimoore Waheed

Area of Focus: Investigative and Narrative Journalism

Background: Waheed has no shortage of degrees as he has an associate of arts degree in paralegal studies and pre-accounting as well as a B.S. in marketing from Iowa State University where he had a focus on statistical analytics and a minor in journalism.

Portfolio Highlights:

Madison Metro and Disabilities

Waheed dove into Metro’s revamped bus system in the Milwaukee Press Club award-winning article “ Madison Metro tells people with disabilities to just take paratransit; riders say it’s not that simple .” For this piece he interviewed over 60 people and attended around 10 community meetings where he discovered that the alternate bus routes have been extremely inconvenient to the lives of some of Madison’s most vulnerable populations.

UW System and DEI

In another Milwaukee Press Club award winning article, “ UW System DEI leaders fear for their jobs, and can’t talk about it ,” Waheed examined the rising issues surrounding DEI in politics and the UW System. Waheed was the first journalists to investigate a tip for this story that UW leadership and State Legislators were meeting in private, and while he was not able to confirm on the record that Jay Rothman and Robin Vos were indeed meeting in private to negotiate on UW funding in exchange for cutting DEI budgets, he was able to confirm it off the record. Waheed found a national trend in DEI officials worrying about their job security when discussing DEI cuts.

Future Plans: Waheed is planning to continue his pursuits as a reporter at Madison365.

Noreen Sharif

Area of Focus: Digital journalism, focusing on workers’ issues and transportation

Background: Sharif earned a B.S. in social science and liberal arts from IBA Karachi. Before joining the SJMC, Sharif gained a plethora of experiences working as a research associate on a project regarding urban violence in Karachi as well as a program associate for a disability nonprofit in Karachi, and as a high school English teacher.

Portfolio Highlights:

The Cap Times internship

Sharif wrote multiple stories during her internship with The Cap Times including the obstacles neurodivergent employees face in workplaces, how the end of the Child Care Counts program will affect childcare employees and parents, and how a legal nonprofit assists individuals facing hurdles to education and employment.

J401 and Madison Commons

Sharif wrote two pieces for the In-Depth Reporting course, J401, that were later published in Madison Commons. Her work tackled the topics of the attempt to bring an Amtrak station to Madison and the impacts and the feedback surrounding the redesign of the Metro Transit .

Future Plans: Sharif is planning to begin her Masters of Science in Human Ecology at UW–Madison this upcoming fall.